Michael Bloomberg

Mayor and businessperson

• Born: February 14, 1942
• Place of Birth: Medford, Massachusetts

Michael Bloomberg made his money in the securities business and parlayed that success into a financial data and news company that made him one of the world’s richest men. Not content, he set his sights on a political career, becoming the mayor of New York City at a time when it was reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Early Life

Michael Bloomberg was born on February 14, 1942. His parents, Michael and Charlotte, were middle class and the children of hard-working Russian immigrants. The family remained in the Boston area for the first few years of Bloomberg’s life, settling in Medford, Massachusetts, roughly five miles northwest of Boston on the Mystic River. Certainly part of the success Bloomberg experienced in his business life and in his political life stemmed from the hard work of his parents and his solid upbringing. As an adolescent, Bloomberg became an Eagle Scout, a mark of distinction awarded to only about 5 percent of all scouts. This desire for achieving hard-won goals continued through his young adulthood. Bloomberg attended Medford High School, graduating with an excellent academic record, which helped him to enter the prestigious Johns Hopkins University to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. Bloomberg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1964, and he followed that with a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. Upon the completion of his education, he was quickly hired in 1966 by Salomon Brothers, a Wall Street investment company, where he worked for fifteen years.

Life’s Work

At Salomon Brothers, Bloomberg worked as a trader and a broker, and his skills for his task at hand did not go unnoticed. By the late 1960s, Bloomberg was making a name for himself within the company. In 1972, only six years after graduating from Harvard Business School, Bloomberg was made a partner in one of the largest equity trading and sales companies in the world. His promotion put him in charge of overseeing all trading within the company, the company’s information systems, and eventually systems development. Bloomberg married Susan Brown in 1975, and they had a daughter, Emma, in 1979. Bloomberg continued to develop his business savvy and grew within the company over the next few years. In the early 1980s, there were rumors of a merger. In 1981, the rumors proved true, and Bloomberg was let go from Salomon Brothers, which became known as Phibro-Salomon.

Bloomberg did not leave Salomon empty handed. His severance package totaled more than ten million dollars. With the knowledge he gained from working for Salomon in information systems and technology and with the handsome buyout package he received, Bloomberg became an entrepreneur. He started a new company, Innovative Market Systems (IMS), which sold financial information that was delivered by terminals in client offices. His first customer was Merrill Lynch. By the late 1980s, Bloomberg’s company, which had been renamed Bloomberg L.C. in 1986, was a leading performer in the information and technology trades. The software provided by the company currently allows companies in the financial arena to analyze data and equity trading news and uses the sophisticated Bloomberg Terminal purchased through his company. In addition to the core products, the company offers Bloomberg Tradebook, trading software, messaging services, and a radio station in New York City. By the 1990s, the company had doubled in size; by 2007, the company had more than ten thousand employees, nearly 300,000 clients, and served more than 160 nations. Just a few years later in 2011, the company reported having 15,000 employees and 192 locations worldwide.

Bloomberg surrendered his role as chief executive officer of his company in 2001 when he decided to enter the political arena and run for mayor of New York City. The mayoral race was shaping up to be tightly contested because the term of the incumbent Rudy Giuliani had expired, and both Democratic and Republican leaders were eager to place their candidates in the office. Bloomberg had three major advantages in the 2001 election. First, he took no donations, funding his campaign with his personal fortune and sidestepping campaign laws on limits of political donations. Second, Bloomberg gained the support of the Independent Party, which was a significant source of votes. Third, Bloomberg ran on the platform that in order for New York businesses to rebound from the tragedies of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the mayor must be business savvy and know how to lead. Bloomberg won the contest, but not in a landslide. In a state that is traditionally governed by Democrat leaders and had not elected back-to-back Republican mayors in years, Bloomberg won with just over 50 percent of the vote.

Although Bloomberg struggled to gain acceptance in his first term, something not easily done for any Republican, after his reelection in 2005 he managed to turn New York City’s $6.3 billion deficit into a nearly $3 billion surplus. Bloomberg ran on a finance reform agenda, and he far exceeded public expectations in this area. Nevertheless, his success came with some backlash from the public for his strong support of abortion rights and of a US military presence in Iraq. The latter garnered a great deal of pressure from the public, especially in 2004 when New York City hosted the Republican National Convention. Bloomberg refuted the outcries of nonsupporters by saying, “Don’t forget that the war [in Iraq] started not very many blocks from here” in reference to the September 11 bombings. Bloomberg’s stance on Iraq gained him valuable clout within the Republican party, and he was rumored to be considering a US presidential run in the 2008 elections. In 2008, Bloomberg asked for an unprecedented third consecutive four-year term, to be granted in a time of financial crisis. The city council approved it, and in his third election as mayor, Bloomberg defeated Bill Thompson with just under 51 percent of the vote.

Bloomberg's politics have been compared to both Republican and Democrat platforms. He was against setting a timeline for the withdrawal of US troops during the Iraq War and is a self-described fiscal conservative and is in favor of providing tax breaks for large corporations. He is also pro-abortion rights and supports same-sex marriage as well as government funding of embryonic stem cell research. His health policies included a ban on smoking that began as prohibiting smoking in all indoor areas and extended to outdoor restaurants, beaches, parks, and plazas. In 2012, he and the city board of health approved a ban on the sale of sweetened drinks sixteen ounces or larger. The New York State Supreme Court struck down the proposal in March 2013, and Bloomberg announced then that he would appeal the decision. Many of his policies drew criticism, however, as being too intrusive on individual freedoms and caused many in the media to refer to New York as a "nanny state" and overprotective.

In 2011, Bloomberg was mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for the 2012 US presidential elections. He preferred, however, to remain mayor of New York until his term ended on December 31, 2013. After working as a philanthropist for several months, Bloomberg announced in September 2014 that at the end of the year he would be returning to Bloomberg L. P. to resume his position as CEO of the corporation.

In addition to running his company in subsequent years, Bloomberg also published, along with Carl Pope, the climate change manifesto Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet (2017). Days after giving a speech in which he apologized for the stop-and-frisk policing policy that he supported in New York City during his tenure as mayor, and having registered once more as a Democrat in 2018, he announced on November 24, 2019, that he was officially entering the race to win the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election. Though some commentators expressed concern over his late entry into the race and the stigma that his wealth might place on him as a candidate, Bloomberg immediately emphasized his political experience and his position on issues such as climate change and gun control. In March 2020, Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Democratic candidate Joe Biden. In 2024, when Biden stepped aside as the Democratic nominee for president, Bloomberg referred to the act as "selfless." Notably, Bloomberg did not immediately endorse Kamala Harris for president, instead urging the Democratic Party to use caution when selecting its next nominee.

Significance

Bloomberg’s success following graduation from college as he quickly moved through the business world made his political career possible. His personal fortune gave him an edge in the business world as well as in the political arena. His ability to lead the city shortly after the terrorist attacks was remarkable. The primary for his first mayoral race was scheduled to begin on September 11, 2001, and had to be postponed. The winner of that contest would be taking the reins after one of the most traumatic tragedies in American history. Bloomberg accepted the challenge, faced the opposition head-on, gained bipartisan support throughout New York and the nation, and used his business intellect, financial savvy, and tough leadership skills to rebuild New York City into a profitable powerhouse. Throughout his term, he remained steadfast in his positions on gun control, abortion, the war in Iraq, and other matters of importance. Bloomberg earned the respect of New York voters, who gave him the mayoral office three times.

Bibliography

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Burns, Alexander. "Michael Bloomberg Joins 2020 Democratic Field for President." The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-2020-presidency.html. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Dicker, Ron. "'Nanny Bloomberg' Ad in New York Times Targets NY Mayor's Anti-Soda Crusade." Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost, 4 June 2012. Web. 3 Jan. 2015.

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Tucker-Smith, Owen. "Michael Bloomberg Doesn't Endorse Kamala Harris, Calls Decision 'Too Important to Rush." The Wall Street Journal, 22 July 2024, www.wsj.com/livecoverage/biden-drops-out-election-2024/card/michael-bloomberg-doesn-t-endorse-kamala-harris-calls-decision-too-important-to-rush--kz9SosggswjOBNbm4XjS. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

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